1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus with image compensation and a method thereof, and more particularly to an image capturing apparatus with image compensation and a method thereof, which can perform compensation of a user's facial image that is distorted in accordance with the position of a camera relative to an imaged object.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, mobile communication devices provided with cameras for capturing images have come into widespread use. With such devices, a user can capture an image of the user's face by using a mobile communication device, and set the captured image on the display screen of the mobile communication device, or transmit the captured image to another user through a wireless network, to communicate with other users. An IMT-2000 service, which is the recently appearing next-generation mobile communication service, goes a step further to provide a video photography function between users of mobile communication devices having provided with cameras.
During video telephony operation, a user maintains a posture looking down toward the mobile communication device in hand because video telephony generally requires that the user continuously gaze at a communication partner's facial image displayed on the screen of the mobile communication device for several to tens of minutes. That is, the camera attached to the mobile communication device is mostly located below the user's face to capture the face of the user. In this case, the image of the user's face in three-dimensions is distorted in such a manner that user's chin appears to be larger that it actually is and user's forehead appears to be more narrow than it actually is. This phenomenon is called perspective. This distorted facial image is generally unnatural to users and may cause psychological rejection, which may delay the widespread use of video photography devices.
Specifically, if a mobile communication device is located below a user's face as illustrated in FIG. 1A, in front of the user's face as illustrated in FIG. 1B, or over (i.e., above) the user's face as illustrated in FIG. 1C, user's facial images captured by the mobile communication device may differ depending on the image capturing angles. As described above, if the user maintains a posture looking down on the mobile communication device, i.e., if the user's facial image is captured by the mobile communication device that is positioned below the user's face, the user's chin appears to be larger and the user's forehead appears to be narrowed. That is, the user's chin appears to be wider than normal, while the user's forehead part appears to be narrowed.
Korean Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2004-0107890 discloses an image display compensation method for a mobile phone that adjusts a captured image parallel to user's eyes by automatically performing compensation of an image tilt appearing on a display screen of the mobile phone, in accordance with a relative rotating-angle difference between the user and the display screen of the mobile phone. According to this method of operating the image capturing apparatus, the displayed information can be recognized more easily and naturally by making the image parallel to the user's eyes, irrespective of the user's motion, by performing compensation on the rotating angle of the image that is seen through the mobile phone.
However, a method or apparatus for compensating for a three-dimensional distortion occurring in the process of capturing the facial image of a user who is looking down towards the camera during the video photography is not yet available.